A Carnivorous Pitcher Plant

[beetleman]

This is Sarracenia Rubra (red form) which is actually my bosses plant (that I took care of all winter for him). He bought it for his pond last summer and it is not winter hardy. It has grown very well on the window sill, I just had to keep it very wet with distilled water. Pitcher plants use what is called a Pitfall Trap. They attract insects to their deadly pitchers by color and smell. Once the insect enters the pitcher, they usually fall in and get digested inside the funnel. I believe this plant produces its own digestive juices because the hood of the plant covers the opening to the pitcher to keep rain out while some types of pitcher plants (like Sarracenia purpurae) rely on the rain to fill the pitcher with liquid and bacteria to break down the insect so the plant can absorb the nutrients. . The liquid you see on the hood and the plant itself is produced by the plant to attract the insects. I did not spray the plant before I took the pictures. The rim of the pitcher is very smooth and waxy and all the hairs on the hood and inside the plant point downwards so an insect cannot climb out once it is inside. After a few insects are trapped, the smell kicks in and attracts even more insects. The tallest pitcher on this plant is about 10" tall. The hood on the Pitcher in the picture is 3" wide and the opening is about 1" wide. Here is another tropical Pitcher plant I posted awhile back. I had no trouble growing the Nepenthes Pitcher plant during the winter (low humidity) and is now growing and producing new pitchers. Some are not as easy to keep from what I read.
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... ht=pitcher

[Ken Ramos]

Great shots Doug and a very interesting narrative . By the way, don't fall in

[Bruce Williams]

With the inauspicious exception of a shop bought Venus Flytrap (it started dying the day I bought it), I have so far managed to fight the temptation to keep carniverous plants. However with all these VERY desirable Sundew and Pitcher plant images that you've been treating us to - I'M FINDING IT SO HARD TO RESIST...and I don't have the room...I'd have to move house...and it'll be your fault Breda!

Well I'd have to blame someone...

I think pic1 is a stunner, good colour and detail that works well against the black background. These are not only fascinating plants they're beautiful to look at too. I enjoyed Pics2 and 3 as they helped support your most informative text. Thanks Doug.

Bruce

[beetleman]

I know that exact feeling Bruce, when I see all the beautiful cactus flowers and plants, I just want to go out and buy all the cactus I see (the same with your fossils)

[Moebius]

Doug,

Does these carnivorous plants you have been showing us have any special soil requirements (acidic?). Humidity?

What/how do you feed these guys?

Ken Nelson

[Gordon C. Snelling]

They generally require acidic soil. I use a mix of about 50/50 peat and sand or pure Sphagnum moss for my Sarracenia, well when I was growing them. Feeding was never a problem for me as I grew them out doors and with days of the pitchers opening they were full of insects.

[beetleman]

Sorry Ken. Like Gordon Said (thank you Gordon ), They do like acid soil and I use the same mix as he does. This one did fine in the house during the winter. It was mixed in with my other plants and I kept it wet and misted it every day. They are a swamp-bog plant so I had a 1" deep plastic bowl under the pot and I kept it full of water (distilled or rain water, they do not like salts) which keeps the plant very wet. Like all other kinds of plants, there are easy ones and hard to keep ones, you just need to do your homework. The sundews I grow are in an aquarium with 2-40 watt full spectrum bulbs over them because they like more humidity. This pitcher plant gets semi submerged in the shallow end of the pond during the summer. I have three Varieties of pitcher plants, two sundews and venus flytraps that I actually overwinter in a small bog (3' x 3' ) I built next to my small pond (3.5' x3.5', more like a puddle )